


guard against every temptation to evil

by BorisTheSpider



Series: Sidecut!Laurens/Lams College AU [3]
Category: 18th Century CE RPF, American Revolution RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8759947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BorisTheSpider/pseuds/BorisTheSpider
Summary: Charles Adams seeks help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> it's past midnight and i had a sudden attack of charles adams feels and i thought, "i need to save him."
> 
> title is from a june 21, 1789 letter from mary smith cranch to abigail adams (“My dear charles will I hope guard against every temptation to evil").
> 
> ages are fudged to make things make sense in this au. here, hamilton and laurens are only like 5 years older than charles, instead of 15-16 years older.

It’s 11:57 PM. That’s the first thing Alexander sees when he opens his eyes: the glaring, blocky numbers on his bedside clock. He doesn’t know what woke him up until he hears it again. Someone’s knocking on the door – three short raps and then a pause before the knocking recommences. He sits up, confused. John is still sleeping and Alexander leaves him to it as he stands and stumbles blearily toward the front door.

Alexander has no idea who the person standing in front of him is, but the boy can’t be older than fifteen and he’s drenched and shivering. Alexander can hear rain pattering against the bedroom window and that must be the cause of that.

“Hi,” the boy’s teeth chatter, almost making it impossible for him to talk.

Alexander stands dumbfounded in the doorway for only a second before springing into action. He pulls the boy inside and directs him toward the couch, bouncing away to retrieve a spare blanket from the closet and wrapping it around the boy’s shoulders once he’s returned.

The boy thanks him and, well, Alexander can’t keep thinking of him as ‘the boy’ so he asks, “What’s your name?”

“Charles Adams,” he stutters. “My dad works in the political science department.”

“Is your dad John Adams?”

Charles nods. “He’s kind of why I’m here, actually.”

Alexander raises an eyebrow, “I’m not taking any of his classes this semester…”

Charles shakes his head, “No, I mean—“ he sighs and looks up, making eye contact with Alexander. “I had a … disagreement with him and my mom.”

“Can I ask why you came here?”

“Um,” Charles looks down at his hands clasped in his lap, “I heard you’re the Pride club’s treasurer and I—“ he’s blushing “—I saw your picture on the website, from the parade.”

“Oh,” Alexander says. “ _Oh._ ”

Charles’ mouth twists and he says, “Yeah.”

“So you’re disagreement was—you came out?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “Didn’t go so well, though, huh?” he laughs humorlessly.

“Guess not. Is there someone you wanted me to contact?”

“I don’t know. I kind of panicked. I shouldn’t even be here,” Charles stands up, “I should—my, um, boyfriend,” his eyes widen in a way that tells Alexander that this is probably the first time he’s said that word out loud.

Alexander cuts in, “Is he somewhere safe?”

“I don’t know,” Charles shakes his head. “We both agreed to come out tonight, so we wouldn’t have to hide anymore, and we were supposed to text when it was over. I texted him to say I was coming here, but he hasn’t responded.”

“Okay, wait here. You know his address?” Alexander waits for a nod before going back to the bedroom. He retrieves his phone and shakes John awake. “Hey, you wanna save a gay kid’s life?”

“I’d love to,” John mumbles and turns over, clearly still dreaming.

“Hey, John, I’m serious. Wake up.” Alexander shoves him until John turns over again and cracks an eye open.

“What’re you doin’?” he slurs.

God, this is not the time for Alexander to fawn over the adorable accent that John gets when he’s sleepy.

“I’ll explain on the way, just hurry. I’d carry you if you weren’t twice my size.”

John smirks and opens his mouth but Alexander quickly cuts him off with an insistent, “ _Hurry_ ”.

*

John leaves the bedroom ready for action (albeit clueless as to the nature of that action) and Alexander quickly introduces them.

Charles cracks a smile and says, “My boyfriend is named John, too.”

In the car, Alexander plugs an address into Google Maps and directs John, filling him in on the situation between directions.

The house they arrive at is silent, but a light is visible through the windows.

Charles bolts from the car before John can even put it in park and flies up the steps only to stop right in front of the door. He hesitates, opting to pull out his phone instead, shooting a text to his boyfriend and waiting, hoping for a response. Finally, the door opens.

The boy standing there is around Charles’ age, though slightly taller than him, and he must be John Mulligan, Jr because Charles tackles him in a hug.

*

Mulligan joins them in the car, telling them what happened with his parents, and it’s no better than Charles’ situation.

Alexander and John take them back to their apartment. It’s all they can do.

“You can stay on the couch tonight,” John says, handing them a blanket and a pillow, “and tomorrow morning I’ll call someone who can really help.”

*

In the morning, John scrolls through his contacts until he finds who he’s looking for and presses the call button. After two rings, a man answers.

“ _Hallo_ ,” he says. “This is Friedrich von Steuben speaking.”

*

They drop the boys off with Professor Steuben and his husband later that day, wishing them luck.

**Author's Note:**

> i purposely did not name steuben's husband -- you decide!
> 
> hamilton really did refer charles adams to steuben (adams was working as an aide in hamilton's law office and his parents threatened to separate him from mulligan [who, incidentally, was the son of hamilton's friend john "hercules" mulligan]). steuben adopted mulligan as another son but adams ended up drifting away from the both of them.
> 
> p.s. i cried while writing this


End file.
